Traditionally, New York City brokerages have competed on listings. The brokerages with the most listings had the upper hand in obtaining, retaining, and converting NYC home shoppers and renters.
Now, with the introduction of RLS IDX, all participating RLS firms and their agents will have the same New York City property listings. This means that having more listings than your competitor will be a greater challenge. How will New York City brokers compete moving forward?

One way is to offer rich, local content. In addition to integrating the RLS IDX onto your platform, the best way for NYC brokerages to stand out from the competition will be to provide the rich, localized content New Yorkers care about. Things like transit data, crime rates, points of interest, and school ratings are important to the average New Yorker. Having this content will boost your competitive advantage by:

Driving home shoppers and renters to your site through organic search – Google values unique content and while having unique listings once sufficed as unique content, listings are now shared across several platforms. So, the best way to stand out, optimize your SEO, and obtain traffic is with rich, unique content and localized landing pages designed to answer home shoppers’ questions like: “What are the school ratings in the Lower East Side”, “What are the crime rates in Alphabet City”, and “What coffee shops are around Bushwick?”Keeping home shoppers and renters on your site – By enabling visitors to customize their searches, save their favorite searches in their account, sign up for email alerts for new listings, and compare each neighborhood with unique data points, visitors will engage with your site more often and for longer periods of time. The ability to save, customize, and receive alerts on favorited searches are all features compatible with Onboard’s IDX Listings Search Engine, the RLS IDX that covers the New York City market.Converting home shoppers and renters through your site – Finding a new home takes longer than a New York minute, so it’s critical to keep in touch and follow up with prospective buyers and renters. With the ability to view visitors past searches, favorite listings, and localized preferences, you gain the upper hand verse your competition in following up with information that’s valuable to them. Now, as opposed to reaching out to find out a desired bedroom and bathroom count, you can send emails and updates when new listings arrive in their desired school district or neighborhood that matches their budget and points of interests needs. This creates a better experience for your customer and a better impression for you and the brand you represent.

The addition of the RLS IDX is revolutionary for New York City real estate. With real estate brokerages implementing RLS IDX into their platforms, determining how to offer customers an online experience that sets you apart is more important than ever.

For more information on Onboard’s IDX API platform which offers a wide breadth of data, including the RLS IDX, click here. Or, reach out to us and find out more on how the RLS IDX can impact your business.